142. This Assembly, in which our peoples have placed their hopes, is meeting once again in order, through the exchange of the different points of view and opinions of its Members, which are nevertheless united in a common cause, to seek the solution of the many complex and serious problems that afflict the world of today. In a task of such magnitude, the duties that fall upon the President are of fundamental importance and we are under an obligation to give him our full co-operation. The General Assembly has given him its collective confidence. In mentioning this fact, I wish to assure him that my delegation, in keeping with its own traditions, will never, at any moment, give him less than its full co-operation.
143. I come to this Assembly as the spokesman of a people who are devoting all their efforts to peaceful and constructive work designed to raise their level of living and for whom international peace and security are essential requirements if their efforts to achieve economic, political and social progress are not to be halted or obstructed, let alone brought to nought. Our thoughts are therefore fixed on peace and security based on mutual respect, on justice and on law.
144. In view of the interdependence of States which characterizes the age in which we live, any disturbance, or threat of disturbance, of peace, wheresoever it may occur, has repercussions in other places and affects other peoples, no matter how far they may be from the actual or potential scene of the conflict. It is therefore our primary individual and collective duty to play our part with enthusiasm and energy in establishing peace, or restoring peace where it has been disrupted, not only because that is our obligation under the Charter but also in order to protect our own national interests.
145. In two regions of the world in particular, the problems of peace are of extreme gravity. In Viet- Nam the destruction peculiar to wars is continuing and the United Nations, which was created for the purpose of saving peoples from the scourge of war, has so far been powerless to help, as it could and should have done, to bring the bloodshed to an end, to see that the first steps are taken towards negotiations and to ensure that political and not military solutions are reached by means of contacts between the parties.
146. Meanwhile it is difficult to explain to a world under the shadow of the war in Viet-Nam the inaction of an Organization like the United Nations in a matter of world importance. This situation should be given the most careful study.
147. In the Middle East, countries with which my country maintains long-standing and cordial relations of friendship have become involved in a bloody conflict which is costly both in human lives — which are the most precious — and in material possessions. My delegation has no direct interest in the conflict and is prompted solely by the duty which falls on each and every one of us to contribute impartially to the efforts to achieve a just and lasting settlement. Accordingly, before the fifth emergency special session, my delegation, together with its brother republics of Latin America, made every endeavour to find formulas that would make it possible for the tensions and conflicts that had plagued the region for the past two decades to give place to an atmosphere more conducive to the application of all efforts. In the same brotherly and impartial spirit, we shall spare no efforts until the peace for which we all yearn is established.
148. These two conflicts — and they are not the only ones — sadden us. At the same time, the threat of the dissemination of nuclear weapons hangs over the world. Recent events give us reason to think that perhaps the time is coming when this dissemination will be halted and when, as a result, the dread that nuclear weapons, against which we have not the slightest defence, inspires in our peoples will begin to diminish. We long to be free of this threat, When more countries join the hitherto restricted group of States that are able to manufacture and use nuclear weapons, the sufferings and anguish of the great masses of the inhabitants of this world will he even greater.
149. This concern about the possible dissemination of nuclear weapons should, moreover, be appraised in relation to the possibilities of the peaceful use of the atom. We are just as strongly in favour of the extension of the peaceful uses of atomic energy as against the dissemination of atomic weapons. We know the great potential of nuclear energy for the productive tasks of peace and we therefore want to have it in order to speed up our progress as developing countries by the use of a technology to which we have no access today owing to our limited resources. We are not in a position to invest the enormous sums required for research and we feel that nothing could be more contrary to the interests of mankind as a whole, and especially of the nations which see their development delayed by the present conditions of international trade, than the fact that the present enormous differences between the levels of living of the industrial countries and those of the non-industrial countries are being increased as a result of the monopoly by a few States of the peaceful use of atomic energy, which could even become a monopoly of the industrialization of the atom. In this field we do not merely ask, we demand, assistance through the transmission of information, the generous opening of the doors of the great research centres and the training of national experts in the appropriate centres.
150. These comments are related also to the Development Decade, which was conceived under such good auspices but which nevertheless, although already in its second half, has certainly not fulfilled the hopes placed in it.
151. We have become accustomed, in our common parlance, to classify countries in two big groups and to call them developed and developing. The fact is that the former are industrial countries and the latter non-industrial countries; it is distressing to observe that with the passage of time the distribution of wealth has not improved, that the industrial countries receive and possess most of the wealth and that the non-industrial countries, which account for two thirds of the population of the world, receive for their efforts a minimal payment which is absolutely insufficient to provide for their development.
152. The slower a country's process of industrialization, the more will its attainment of higher levels of living be delayed. The conclusion is that, unless the present conditions of international trade are amended in all urgency, the only course left to us will be to seek ways and means of achieving our own complete industrialization.
153. My country, making the maximum use of its own resources, devoting its best efforts to the task and relying on less external aid, is already in the process of solving its economic infrastructure problems. At the same time it is enjoying political peace and social peace; it is continuing its economic progress; it has achieved remarkable monetary stability and, with the co-operation of the different political sectors, it has just given itself a new fundamental charter. These are the characteristics of a State in manifest progress on all sides.
154. Aware as we are of our role in the international community in general, and in the regional community in particular, we have devoted and are devoting our efforts to achieving Latin American economic integration and, through that undertaking of historic importance, bringing about the effective progress and greater well-being of the peoples of our region.
155. The possibilities of wider markets are being more and more often restricted by the limits of national sovereignty. We do not think that regional economic integration is prejudicial to sovereignty or implies the acceptance of supernational organs. On the other hand, it would enable each and every one of our States to reach the international common market and the adoption of common tariffs. In this important undertaking we need technical and financial aid, and here and now we ask for it.
156. Latin America has vast resources in raw materials and must try to achieve its own industrialization. As far as we ourselves are concerned, we want industries of regional interest to be situated in our own territory and we therefore accept multinational enterprises of a private nature.
157. We shall attend the forthcoming second United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, to be held at New Delhi in 1968, with an open mind, hoping once again that the time Is drawing near when justice will be done in the distribution of the wealth to which we are entitled by what we do and what we produce. At the same time, however, I must confess that we are not very optimistic. There are still many barriers of prejudice to break down.
158. In this brief review, I have drawn attention to only a few of the problems facing this Assembly. There are others, and certainly serious ones. I need only mention the problems of the liquidation of colonialism and, in particular, the case of South West Africa. I could also mention the question of apartheid, an outrage that is still going on and that must disappear. Our position on these questions is well known; it is that of nearly all the States represented in this Assembly. We shall in due course unite our efforts with those of other countries in order that these problems may soon be no more than bitter memories of the past.